


Springlocks are Not a Toy

by Cluemily



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Alternate Universe, Friendship, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Toy Bonnie is a Springlock Suit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:08:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26551147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cluemily/pseuds/Cluemily
Summary: “Uh, hey! Am I in the right place? I mean, I’m guessing so since...” She gestured towards the rabbit. “I’m supposed to get suit training or something?”“Or something. Welcome to your first day as a performer for Freddy’s!”
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), Toy Bonnie (Five Nights at Freddy's) & Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 10





	1. First Introductions

**Author's Note:**

> I have to first thank [End_Transmission](https://archiveofourown.org/users/End_Transmission/) for pitching the Springlock!Toy Bonnie idea casually in their Discord, and [DragonQueenTessa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonQueenTessa) for also being involved in the initial discussion of this. They're really great writers so you should totally check them out if you haven't.
> 
> It was a really fun idea and I did really wanna write this for a while, and to give myself an excuse to try practice writing Toy Bonnie more, and I finally got the motivation. 💖

“Pass me the crank.”

A pause. “I still don’t think this thing’s a good idea.”

The immediate reply came in the form of a hand slamming down on the metal table before pair of narrowed eyes stared down the nervous man on the other side of the table. “And I’ve told you; you’re getting paid for maintenance, not complaining.” A hand shot out, reaching across the table. “Now give me the damn crank.”

There was no hesitation in passing over the simple metal object this time, silence falling over the room once more aside from the soft ticking as the crank was inserted into the neck of the inactive animatronic on the table, slowly returning the endoskeleton within back to its original position. Once done, the stout man wiped his hands on his uniform before opening the torso of the plastic rabbit and letting the bright green eyes illuminate the dim room further as he brought the blue bunny back to life.

“Alright! How’s everything feelin’, cottontail?”

With a roll of the eyes and a gentle shove off the table, Toy Bonnie stood and tilted his head in reply, arms spread out.

“Good, then hop back on up, we’re not going anywhere.”

“...And why’s that?” The rabbit replied lowly, ears pinned back. Eyes went to the door and then to the younger, lankier of the pair who shrunk back under the rabbit’s gaze.

“You got a new suitor coming in, so try not scare them off this time,” the other technician replied, mouth twitching into the smallest smirk as the rabbit’s face twisted into the closest it could get to a scowl. It looked like he didn’t catch on before they’d shut him down to check the endoskeleton.

“I don’t need this stupid stuff. I’m plenty profitable without having some random stranger wearing me around!”

The technician glanced towards the door, ignoring the rabbit’s complaints. “Should be here soon for the rundown, so play nice”

As if on cue there was a soft knock at the door as the knob turned in tandem, followed by a head of short brown hair peeking in through the gap. Matching brown eyes quickly caught sight of the bright blue rabbit and lit up excitedly as the door was pushed open and bumped against the wall behind it.

“Uh, hey! Am I in the right place? I mean, I’m guessing so since...” She gestured towards the rabbit. “I’m supposed to get suit training or something?”

“Or something.” The more talkative of the two technicians seemed to smile wider, much to the moping rabbit’s disdain. He beckoned her into the room and led her over to the rabbit with a hand hovering by her back, as if he was making sure she wouldn’t run out the door. “Welcome to your first day as a performer for Freddy’s…”

“And it’ll be your last day, too,” Toy Bonnie grumbled, moving away from the staff and table and putting a wall against his back instead, eyes flicking to the crank that had been left on the worktable and back to the trio warily.

“And that would be your best friend for the rest of your time here.” The technician continued to ignore Toy Bonnie’s comments. “We’re just here to keep everyone running, and to help you hop into the suit when the time comes.”

“Which it won’t!”

“You got Steve hiding off in the corner there,” he kept going, pointing to the second technician who stopped staring down the rabbit to give the other a frown. “Don’t mind him, he thinks the rabbit’s out to get him, hates having to work on him. If you have any rabbit-related problems, you’re better off yelling for me.” He held out a hand. “David.”

“Ainsley!” She chirped back, finally taking her eyes off the rabbit to give the man’s hand an enthusiastic shake. “I hope to be sticking around.”

“Good, good.” There was a pause before David gave her a pat on the shoulder. “Well we’ll dig the training tapes out tomorrow for a listen. You and the rabbit can get to know each other. He’s smarter than he looks, so feel free to talk his ears off. Figuratively, though. Things are a pain to fix.”

“Hey!” Toy Bonnie finally stepped away from the wall, fingers curling into fists and ears folded back once more.

“And he’s all bark and no bite,” David added on in a low voice, amusement obvious, before turning to the door. Steve had already made his way to the door, turning the knob and ready to leave at a moment’s notice. “Alright Stevie, you can check the chicken. I’ve had my diva quota today.”

The pair of technician’s left with an upset shout from Steve this time, door left ajar. Ainsley let the rabbit have her full attention once more before frowning and moving aside as the rabbit barrelled past her to the door with barely even a glance in her direction. She didn’t hesitate to follow behind the rabbit, noting how he seemed to speed up further when he heard her footsteps behind him.

“Uh, Bonnie? Please stop?” Ainsley sounded unsure, the idea of holding a normal conversation with an animatronic still foreign to her. She’d seen plenty of his performances during opening hours, had seen his interactions and knew he had a bit of an ego around everyone, but it was like someone cranked it up to eleven and broke the knob off once the doors closed.

“Nope!”

The reply seemed to rile her up just a little. “Bonnie come on. You’re being pretty rude.”

“Really? Hadn’t noticed!”

Ainsley raised a brow, frown deepening. With a small burst in speed she slid in front of the rabbit just before he reached the dining area to bring him to a sudden halt, eyes half-lidded as he stared at her. Though he did note, disappointed, that she was almost equal in height. They were determined to get this to work one way or another, it seemed.

He’d moped and whined about every other employee they’d hired to be his suit mode performer, and when that hadn’t worked they were easily scared off with an off rattling here and there if they made it into the suit. No harm done but the paranoia did its work.

“Come on Bonnie…”

Toy Bonnie noted how tired she already sounded, one eyebrow raised as he briefly made eye contact with the other two members of his band on stage. They’d been watching ever since the pair came into view, both watching with matching confused looks as the technicians set up on stage.

But instead of pushing past her to join them he turned back the way they’d came and made a beeline for the Prize Corner, noting that the Puppet wasn’t out of their box. That was good for him; the Puppet would probably be upset if he was caught rearranging the stock and pretending to ignore the human following him around like an upset puppy and trying to get his attention.

Ainsley was hot on the rabbit’s heels, patience clearly wearing thing despite her attempts to hide it. The excitement she’d felt initially upon accepting the job was quickly running out, but she was as stubborn as this rabbit was, determined to at least get some sort of conversation out of the bright blue bunny before she had to leave for the day. Could she bargain with an animatronic? Do they take bribes?

“Look, Bonnie,” Ainsley stopped at the exit to the prize counter, eyeing some of the prizes out of curiosity but not daring to pick any up to examine them like the rabbit seemed intent to do. She’d made her stand at the only exit to the counter, meaning he’d have to physically move her out the way to leave. “Clearly there’s some, uh, animosity? But this is just a job; we just do our jobs and split when it’s time to head home. Easy!”

The fake smile she’d plastered on at the end quickly dropped once more at the lack of a response, chewing on the inside of her cheek in thought before looking at the prize counter stock once more as another idea brewed.

“I could really do with the money, and they offered a pretty good pay. I could’ve maybe even have extra to earn some more prizes that I’m missing, y’know?” Ainsley caught the stray twitch of an ear at the end there, lips pursed to avoid the smile that was trying to slip its way onto her face.

“...More?”

Got him.

“Yeah!” She reached for her back pocket, retrieving a phone that looked like its lifespan was long over judging by the scuffs and cracks. “I think I have-” Ainsley went quiet, tapping and swiping as she searched for something before her face lit up. “There, see!”

It took a moment before the rabbit caved, fans whirring in imitation of a sigh as he replaced a plush on the shelf and turned with eyes narrowed. The picture she was presenting looked like a low quality sea of blue for a moment until he finally began making out the details; red rosy cheeks, little red guitars dotted around, the long blue ears standing proud. Even the grumpy rabbit couldn’t help his ears from twitching back up to their full height in interest. He’d seen people take home the merchandise, of course, but no one had brought him a picture back of their collection. Let alone their collection of anything that included him.

Toy Bonnie quickly recovered, ears swivelling back as his eyes narrowed. “...Is this really the best picture you can take?”

“Well you can tell what it is, right?” She turned to look at the picture herself, frowning.

“Just barely,” he scoffed, arms crossed. “You can’t even tell which editions of the plushes you have.” The blue rabbit wasn’t going to admit to her that he could easily identify each plush of himself with ease and was maybe even the littlest bit impressed. He could tell all she was really missing was some of the larger ones hanging on the shelves beside him; the ones with a higher ticket price. “Maybe you should spend your pay cheque on a better camera instead of merchandise, hm?”

Ainsley’s face lit up immediately. “So does that mean-”

“Hah!” She flinched back as he barked a laugh, Toy Bonnie’s eyes lighting up bright in amusement. “Not a chance. They’ll give you a week, you’ll make no progress and they’ll feel sorry for hiring you for a dead end job! You’ll maybe get a couple months of serving tables before they let you go. That’s how it always goes.” He jabbed her in the shoulder with each point made; not enough to hurt but enough to drive her back far enough that he could get past her to leave once more. “No one’s a better Toy Bonnie than Toy Bonnie, so give up.”

He immediately took his chance to leave, leaving a surprised Ainsley behind. It only took a moment for her to register his leaving before she turned and tried to think of something else to say. To convince the animatronic.

“No no, wait! I’m your biggest fan! That has to count for something, right?”

The rabbit paused in the doorway, examining the girl with a half-lidded gaze, green eyes glowing in the dim lights. Then he hissed out a puff of air from somewhere inside, like a breathy laugh.

“Everyone’s my biggest fan. It might be Freddy’s name on the sign but people come here for _me_!” He parroted back something he’d heard the technician’s say before when they thought he wasn’t listening. It’d become one of his favourite things to say for a reason.

Then he finally turned and stormed off towards the stage. He knew the technicians would catch on upon his return, if they hadn’t heard anything already, and the other two stage occupants would hear his loud complaints about it later so Toy Bonnie knew no one would disturb him further if they knew what’s good for them.

Ainsley let him leave this time, face a mixture of disappointment and irritation. That could have went a lot better but she just told herself he was stubborn, but she could be just as stubborn too. She hadn’t been lying when she admitted she took the job for the money, but the idea of playing her favourite character had seemed like a dream. It’d just take a little more convincing and then they’d be hunky-dory is all.

Grabbing her belongings and new uniform from the staff room, she made for the exit with a wave to the technicians. Her eyes briefly met Toy Bonnie’s and he immediately knew this girl was going to be the bane of his existence. Lucky him.


	2. Suiting Up

“So why is he like… that?”

Ainsley perched on the edge of a chair left in the back room the next day, watching as David worked on the inactive Toy Bonnie. He seemed to look annoyed even whilst shut down, she noted.

“Like what? A self-absorbed asshole?” The technician briefly peered from behind the rabbit to shoot an amused grin at the young woman who did her best to hold back a laugh.

She replied once her quiet laughter was nothing more than a smirk. “No, not that. That’s just his programming, right?”

“Yeah well they programmed him to wanna be a star. He forgets the sky’s full of ‘em,” David grumbled back, going back to tightening something on the endoskeleton within. She didn’t know where Steve was but he wasn’t with them today.

“I meant the whole springlock thing. He wasn’t always like that. I swear he used to be-,” she paused, thinking of the right word she was looking for. “-thinner?”

That got a laugh out of David that time, the short man giving the table a good slap as he closed up the rabbit, satisfied.

“You better hope he never hears you saying that.” David gave himself a moment to compose himself, looking the rabbit’s suit over with grin still visible. “It’s some old type of suit they had at an old location. Kids loved them. Who wouldn’t love to see their favourite character walk off stage to dance and play with you? Great money maker, and they were more interactive than even this bunny could hope to be, no matter what he says. Old things were… a little dodgy.”

Ainsley frowned and gave a tilt of the head, curious. With a sigh, he tapped his fingers against the table. She’d find out eventually; people weren’t too quiet about it if they knew.

“They were great for a while but after the years the age got to them. If those locks came loose then you better hope you had some damn amazing luck.” David caught Ainsley’s pale face and grimace as she caught on. “Hey there’s a reason you’re not wearing some rotten yellow suit. They decommissioned those years ago, and this guy here’s way safer. He’s got the classic locking mechanisms but has a sweet power source to hold them back, too, and he knows it. You could probably do a backflip off the stage in him if he let you.”

She frowned, leaning a cheek on her fist. “I think I’ll stick to the song and dance on solid floor. But I don’t know how you expect me to wear him, he seems dead set on refusing until either I quit or the company fires me.”

“That’s where our new plan comes into play.” David gave the still rabbit an almost gentle slap to the head, as if to emphasize his point when he did nothing but rock gently. “We’re gonna leech off his battery without turning him on. They only keep him active in suit mode for the voice box; he’s supposed to let you know if anything’s about to go wrong so we can get you out, or if one of his bandmates’ facial recognition goes off and you need to keep an eye on someone. But if we’re just doing a little training I’ll be on standby anyway. Do a little on the job training and the raving reviews about his new improved interactivity will maybe finally sell it for him.”

She nodded along slowly, chewing the inside of her cheek in thought. David wasn’t blind to her hesitation.

“Hey I’m just here to suit up whoever takes the job, it doesn’t have to be you. They’ll shove you over to waiting tables if you change your mind-”

“No!” Even Ainsley was taken aback at how quickly she yelled that out, leaning back in the chair with a sigh. “I mean, this is a bigger pay. Which I appreciate.” She gave a smile. “And if you say he’s safe enough to backflip in I’ll trust you on that one.”

“Great!” David barked, wrapping his arms around the rabbit and lifting him to his feet with minimal effort, carefully holding the suit upright with one hand and grabbing the crank with his other. “Then c’mere and let me show you the ropes.”

* * *

Though putting the suit on wasn’t difficult with David’s instructions, they still spent a few days simply putting it on to walk around the back room for a couple hours in the morning. Ainsley appreciated it, if only for how awkward she felt at first when trying to walk normally when encased in the blue suit. Or she assumed that was what kept David in such a good mood in between his tips on how to move in the suit. She still felt a little awkward in the end but he assured her that it was as good as the animatronics themselves, and would improve with time.

She did feel a little surge of excitement at that. He sounded certain that she’d be sticking around.

Next came going over some of the basic routines that the manager had noted down for her to memorise. Ainsley did mention how vague most of the points seemed to be only for David to point out that there wasn’t much one could do to prepare for unpredictable kids. ‘Just stay in character and call on a staff member if things get out of hand’ was the best advice he had. It made sense.

Neither of them ever brought Toy Bonnie into any of their what-ifs, both still unsure how long it would take for the self-centred rabbit to finally warm up to the idea considering most previous staff never got this far, or to at least come to some sort of agreement. Ainsley silently hoped soon, if only to stop the cold looks he would give her whenever he was active and on stage or wandering the dining area. David assured her he was none the wiser that they were doing this – that he just thought it was the usual maintenance – but she had a feeling he was suspicious of them.

Their biggest challenge came when the manager finally approached them during one of their ‘dress rehearsals’, as David put it. He’d decided the few sparse days of practice wearing the suit were more than enough, insisting they finally start interacting with the customers. His first suggestion came in the form of a party booked for later that day; it was a small party, a great test run as he put it. Just a short visit from Toy Bonnie was expected, and they wouldn’t have to be there for the entire party.

And although he didn’t outright say it, it was obvious to anyone in the room that the manager wasn’t intending to take no for an answer – not if everyone in the room planned to keep their jobs. So Ainsley agreed, despite the short notice.

* * *

The rest of the day before the party-goers arrived passed quickly, filled with David giving the suit a once-over and Ainsley going over any made-up scenarios she could come up with, mostly going off of the parties of younger family members that she’d attended and the kids that had been around then that she remembered. She could joke that she was preparing for the worst scenario if she wasn’t just worried that she’d mess up and be out of a job. Toy Bonnie would also be pretty pissed that she probably messed up his reputation in some way too. If he was even aware of what was going on right now. She still felt a little guilty about doing this all behind his back.

But it’d all go great, he’d hear about the raving reviews and everything would be hunky-dory and they’d finally get along. That’s what kept Ainsley going as she was carefully directed into the suit once more and led out of the back room whilst in the suit for the first time.

“Watch the ears, mind you’re a bit taller than the doors now,” David reminded her, reaching a hand up to bend the ears as they passed through the doorway to the dining area, manoeuvring around the edge as they made their way to the party rooms. Being a bright blue rabbit one stood out quite easily, so it was no surprise that their little parade was brought to a quick stop to greet a few of the regular customers who had been searching for the rabbit. David had been worried as Ainsley stood still, head turning to look at each kid, but the worry quickly lifted as she dropped down on one knee and gave a dramatic wave with both hands.

It wasn’t long until the question they were expecting yet still dreaded cropped up.

“Why don’t you talk, Bonnie?” One of the older children questioned, sounding more worried than confused. One of the staff, one of the younger ones, seemed prepared for this and immediately stepped in.

“One of Bonnie’s friends played a prank on him, and now he has to be quiet,” the member of staff explained, putting a finger to his own lips to emphasize the point. “He doesn’t want to lose, but he’ll be ready to talk to you soon! Promise!” Ainsley enthusiastically nodded in agreement, ears bouncing with the movement. It seemed to satisfy the kids after a moment, and they all allowed the bunny to continue on their way with no more issue after a little bit of interaction.

“Not bad,” David commented once they’d passed into the hall of party rooms. “You ready for the real test?”

Without a word Ainsley lifted her arms and drew a curve in front of her face to mimic a smile.

“Great.” They came to a stop just out of sight of the first party room, David raising his voice just enough to be sure she heard as the staff who had fetched them slipped into the room, catching the attention of the occupants. “I’ll be out here if you feel like anything’s off. Even the smallest worry tell the staff in there so they can get you out.”

With a final thumbs up, Ainsley strode over to hide just out of sight by the doorway to listen for her cue. The kids finally fell quiet and listened to the staff as they explained that Toy Bonnie was on his way, throwing in the story from earlier to excuse his lack of speaking. She wasn’t sure if they heard that part, the volume rising once more to the point the parents stepped in to hush them. Sure they wouldn’t hear her, she gave a soft laugh.

Before the staff lost control of the children once more, the one in charge of welcoming Toy Bonnie into the party room quickly called for the blue rabbit and gave Ainsley her cue to bounce into sight to the delight of the occupants of the room. Her eyes quickly caught sight of the birthday girl, standing from her seat and bouncing on the spot, a sparkly blue party hat atop her head that matched her equally sparkly blue dress.

Ainsley didn’t have to wonder who her favourite was.

She gently moved through the kids, waving all the while as she made their way towards the birthday girl who had yet to move. Once within arms reach, she carefully crouched so not to lose her balance and cocked her head to the side, giving an energetic wave as the girl seemed to freeze now that the rabbit had approached her. With the further lack of response, her head tilted further until the long ears flopped over to match, finally snapping the girl out of her daze and allowing her excited bouncing to resume.

“Bonnie!” She gleefully exclaimed the rabbit’s name, face lighting up as they nodded, ears flopping with the movement. In return Bonnie pointed back with another held tilt, a silent question of her name that Ainsley hoped was clear enough; playing the rabbit was one thing but she had never been the best at a game of charades. The birthday girl’s face lit up even more, somehow. “My name’s Jenna!”

Jenna’s face was but a glimmer of a smile in seconds, shyly fiddling with some of the glittery layers of her dress. “Uh, thank you for coming to my birthday party too, Bonnie.” She went silent, bunching pieces of her dress in her hands. “Don’t tell the others, but I love you the most.”

Though Ainsley couldn’t control the ears, she tried to lift her head enough to straighten them out once more to try and show joy at Jenna’s admission of favouritism, silently preening before pointing at herself and then back at Jenna. Though maybe not the clearest way to get across that Toy Bonnie also liked the girl, Jenna seemed to understand at the way she let go of the dress and seemed unsure of if she wanted to jump forward and hug the rabbit or not. Ainsley made the choice for her, opening her arms and tilting her head in a silent question.

Jenna didn’t hesitate this time, running forward to try and wrap her arms as far around the rabbit’s torso as possible, prompting the other kids to surge forward and begin to vie for Bonnie’s attention before they were reprimanded by the parents that stood watch along the walls. Once the children settled once more, a man with a camera approached and introduced himself as Jenna’s father, holding the camera up as he asked for a few photos of the pair together. And who was Toy Bonnie of all the band members to refuse a photo with one of his biggest fans.

Once Jenna was happy she had lots of pictures of the two posing for the camera she was happy to let other kids meet the rabbit too, not wandering too far from Bonnie’s side and staring as if starstruck. Ainsley couldn’t help the grin on her face as she kept going; hot and possibly a little sweaty but definitely happy to see how many smiles she was bringing to the faces of the partygoers. And she was sure Toy Bonnie would appreciate this too whenever he found out; they didn’t really get to interact like this with kids besides wandering and waving. She’d heard parents didn’t entirely trust the robots around their children in case of a malfunction, but they seemed fine with this up close interaction knowing that it was a person in command within the suit.

* * *

The designated time slot soon came to an end, much to the kids and Ainsley’s disappointment, staff announcing that Toy Bonnie had to leave with an excuse of an upcoming performance on stage that he had to prepare for. There was a chorus of disappointed whines but aside from a few of the grabby ones Toy Bonnie rose to their feet and merrily waved to the children as they left, Ainsley pursing her lips to avoid giggling at the joy bubbling up within.

Once out of sight, David slid up beside her and gave the suit a cursory glance and, seemingly satisfied, began to lead her to the back room to remove the suit out of sight.

“So how’d it go? Not a single sad face in sight so good?” David started the conversation as the closed the door, Ainsley with her back to him as she awaited his help to remove the suit. Upon the head’s removal, she breathed in the somewhat fresher air and letting out an exhausted sigh. She kept on smiling.

“It was great! Maybe not perfect but they all seemed excited,” she replied. David took a moment to reply, carefully extracting her from the suit and letting her collapse into a chair with a cold can of soda and a towel to dab her head. She didn’t realise how hot the suit could be until she was doing more than walking back and forth in a tiny room.

“Well the rest’ll come with practice,” he noted, reattaching the head to Toy Bonnie’s suit and cranking the endoskeleton back into place to begin checking the inside to ensure all had returned to its correct position. “The manager peeked in a few times. Seemed happy with whatever he saw so good job for you and me both. Suit seemed great, too.” He paused. “That’s probably the first proper chance we’ve had to test the suit with someone in it.”

Ainsley frowned behind her can as she took another gulp. She was almost ready to comment on that before sighing once again, waving a dismissive hand. “Never doubted you for a second. In fact I almost stopped worrying about the springlocks entirely about five minutes in.” She paused, staring at the can. “Almost.”

“You don’t have to think about this bucket of bolts for the rest of the day if you don’t want to. Manager says you’re free to go since there’s no more parties hoping for Bonnie exclusively to show.”

Ainsley raised her can in some sort of salute before draining it, wiping her face and neck with the towel once more before glancing around as if looking for a place to put it.

“Ah just keep that. Count it as part of your uniform,” David piped up, once again back to his usual viewpoint of Ainsley from behind the rabbit as he prepared to turn him back on.

“Alright then. I’ll see you next week?”

“Or whenever they call you in on a day off. Don’t think suit wearers get out of those calls if someone really wants Bonnie at their birthday party.”

“Aw, really? Well I think I’m gonna hibernate until they come knocking.” Ainsley gave a final wave and exited before Toy Bonnie was brought back online, retrieving her belongings from the staff room and waving to other staff as she left for the day, intending to make it home and clean up before her muscles surely started to ache. Then she could worry about her next shifts later, now that the manager had hope in this setup.


End file.
